Man with learning difficulties beaten unconscious then dragged into path of double-decker bus in unprovoked attack

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Police have released footage of a man with learning difficulties being dragged into the path of a double-decker bus after being beaten unconscious.

Damien Pankiewicz was jailed for 12 years after being convicted of Grievous Bodily Harm with intent, after which he will be deported.

Pankiewicz had been in the UK for just two days before the attack.

The 52-year-old victim was repeatedly punched at a bus stop on Brixton Hill, London ‘for no reason’ according to the Metropolitan Police, on 22 July 2015.

Pankiewicz continued to punch the victim after he fell to the ground unconscious. He then grabbed him by the neck and dragged him across the road, into the path of an oncoming bus that was able to stop just in time.

The victim spent three weeks in hospital after the attack, having suffered bleeding on the brain, a broken leg and broken ribs.

Police reported that after being arrested, Pankiewicz head-butted the window of a police car.

Pankiewicz denied the offence, claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone. CCTV evidence and property recovered from the victim disproved this claim and Pankiewicz was convicted unanimously by the jury at the Inner London Crown Court on 16 March.

Detective Constable James Bateman from Lambeth Police's CID said: "This was an unprovoked and violent attack against a vulnerable man in which the victim received serious injuries.

"Pankiewicz initially gave no explanation for the assault, before claiming in court that the victim had stolen his phone, a claim we were able to disprove. He has shown no remorse for his actions at any stage. The level of violence, its sustained nature and the impact on the victim has been immense and has deeply affected him.

"This sentence will hopefully help the victim to get some form of closure to an event in his life which has been so traumatic."